Shoulder Bumping
by falafel90
Summary: James convinces Lily to take him to Slughorn's Christmas party. Lily/James one-shot.


A/N: Here's a little one-shot. I was inspired by the new movie (if you saw it, you'll know why…though if you read HBP, you'd probably know why, too!). Anyway, read and review! And let me know what you thought of the movie if you saw it! I'm curious what other people thought!

* * *

"Ms. Evans!" Professor Slughorn boomed, walking towards Lily in the Potions classroom. He stood beside her, observing her well-brewed Veritaserum, and sighed. "I am planning on holding a little gathering just before the holidays. Next Thursday, actually. Can you make it?"

Lily froze, but plastered on a fake smile. She hated those parties, as did every other member of the Slug Club. The people who attended were merely there as to not disappoint a professor, but their opinion of the club itself was dreadful. And darn—she had no decent excuse to relieve her from accepting the invitation.

"Of course, Professor. I'd love to," she replied in a sugary voice. She could hear a snort in the direction of the Marauders and she glared in their direction. They shouldn't poke fun at her misfortune—especially since two of the four would ultimately be invited and forced to deal with that same misfortune.

"Wonderful!" he roared, grinning. "You know, Caemon Ash, the famous Potioneer, will be in attendance! He would be a splendid connection for you to make, Ms. Evans! With your Potions ability, he may just offer you a position with him right on the spot! I've told him all about your talent, he's…"

Lily's mind wandered, though she nodded and smiled at Slughorn from time to time. To her, it was a wonder that Slughorn loved her as much as he did.

"…so you should by all means bring a guest with you." What? She had to bring a guest?

"To the party?" Lily's mouth dropped. They had never been allowed to bring guests before!

"Yes, it's something new I'm trying out. Usually I leave it to my favorites alone, but I thought, it's Christmas! A few extra people will be just merry! Don't you believe so, Ms. Evans?"

"Surely, sir, " Lily responded. Who was she going to take?

She noticed everyone packing up, and she began to pack her own bag as Slughorn walked over toward the Marauders. She could see the Marauders feeding him their charm, and she could hear Slughorn's obnoxious laugh.

"Oho! You boys are a riot!" she heard Slughorn say. "So, Mr. Lupin? Mr. Black? Are you up for the party on Thursday?"

Just like she thought. Those two were invited, while Potter and Pettigrew had been awkwardly left out of the invite. She couldn't imagine they'd be disappointed, though.

Slowly, she shuffled out of the room, wishing she, like Potter and Pettigrew, had never gotten on Slughorn's good side. Potter, who had originally been invited to Slughorn's dinner parties, was slowly weeded out due to his terrible Potions abilities and his aptitude for troublemaking. Despite becoming the Head Boy to Lily's Head Girl this year, he never gained an invite from Slughorn—though Slughorn was certainly friendly towards him. Black only got the invites because of the Black legacy, otherwise he'd be in the same boat as Potter.

"Wait up!" Potter. Because they had both become Heads, and were forced to work together, they had become friends.

"What's up, Potter?" Lily said, casually.

"I saw Slughorn and you talking. You going to the Christmas party?" James asked, grinning. Their shoulders rubbed as they walked toward Gryffindor tower, but Lily wasn't bothered for some reason. Had she…? No. Of course not. They had become friends, that's all. Friends just…don't get annoyed with friends.

"Yeah, not that I want to," Lily said, smiling at James. "Not that anyone wants to go, really." James laughed and grinned back.

"Actually," James said, "I've always wanted to go again. I mean, I never minded them too much." His shoulder bumped hers again.

"Seriously?" Lily asked, laughing. "Be thankful you don't have to meet arrogant Quidditch players and ignorant journalists and stupid celebrities…it's a nightmare. The only reason I go is to appease Slughorn." Yet another arm graze.

"Well, old Sluggy was saying that this year you could bring a date. Maybe you could pick an enjoyable companion who could laugh at the pretentiousness of famous people?" James lifted his eyebrows up and down, and Lily chuckled.

"I'm just not sure I know anybody that I could do that with," Lily said, goading him. Their arms collided as they both looked at the other.

"Well, I think I know a bloke," James said.

"Oh yeah? Who is this fellow?" Lily asked, humoring him.

"He's pretty handsome—"

"Oh," Lily said, laughing, "you mean Black! I agree—he is rather handsome." James glared at her.

"No. He doesn't really fit the rest of my description; this person's intelligent," James said, bumping her shoulder with his again.

"Oh, you mean Remus! He's both, it's definitely him! It's Remus, isn't it?"

"You know I'm talking about myself!"

"I had no clue, really," Lily stated dryly.

"Liar," James replied. "You knew."

"Did not!" Lily said, giggling.

"What do you say, Lily?" James said, grabbing her hand and turning her toward him. "Go with me?"

Lily grabbed her hand back and scoffed. "Shouldn't I be the one asking you? As I recall, you weren't invited by Slughorn."

James put a hand over his heart. "You wound me!" He dropped his arm and grinned. "You know you want to go with me."

"No!" Lily denied quickly, but she thought that maybe going with him wouldn't be so bad. They were friends, after all, and they'd have all sorts of fun...maybe she _should_ go with him. "But you can come with me, I guess. But only because I'd be completely mortified if I couldn't get a date!"

"You know as well as I do that anyone would agree to go with you, Lily. You're beautiful." The conversation took a serious turn, and Lily wasn't sure she could handle it. Though she knew James had liked her for years, it was only recently that his advances were subtler and, for her, much more difficult to reject, for she feared hurting him. Because he had changed—at least somewhat—she felt bad whenever she had to say 'no.'

Lucky for her, they were approaching the Fat Lady. "That's not true, James," she said quietly.

"Ashwinder eggs," said James, giving the password to the painting. "But it is."

Lily dropped the subject. "So, next Thursday then? Yes?"

"Yes." For the rest of the day, James couldn't stop smiling…and Lily couldn't stop smiling because James couldn't stop smiling.

* * *

"Merlin, this is awful," Lily whispered to James, just after she managed to worm her way out of her conversation with Caemon Ash. The two were at Slughorn's Christmas party, and it was a barrel of...well, a barrel of annoying famous people that Professor Slughorn once taught.

"The name's James, not Merlin," James whispered back, and Lily laughed. Together, though with Lily in the lead, they walked over to a table and sat down. It was set for eight people, but as everyone was mingling, they were the only two sitting.

They were both quiet for a moment, observing the crowd around them. Shrieks of delight were heard from fans of Antoni Krol, who whipped out a snitch and began to play around with it. Lily laughed.

"What?" James asked with a smile, looking on at Krol's antics.

"Well, there are really two reasons why I'm laughing: first, does Krol remind you of anyone?" James flushed red. "And second, the old you would be crowding around him with everyone else, desperate to get his autograph."

"Nah," James said. "He's a tosser." Lily gave him a pointed look, and James sighed. "Well, maybe." Her face relaxed and she chuckled. He bumped her shoulder. Lily began to wonder what the whole shoulder thing was about…did James realize he was doing it or was it all accidental? Or were they just naturally drawn to each other?

"Hey," James said softly, bringing her out of her trance. "I…uh…got you a present. You know…for Christmas." James pulled a badly wrapped gift out of his pocket. It was small and square, and Lily could just about guess what it was. James handed it to her.

"I—I can't, James," Lily said, forgetting to use his surname. "I didn't get you anything."

"I didn't expect you to," James said, knocking into her again. "So open it."

Lily carefully peeled off the red and white striped wrapping paper, revealing a square velvet box. She opened it and came face to face with a spectacular pair of diamond heart earrings.

"Oh, James!" Lily said, feeling terribly guilty for not getting him a present. "These are too much! I honestly can't take them. It'd be wrong." She tried to hand them back, but James wouldn't take them.

"I bought them for you and I want you to have them. What would I do with them? Wear them to Transfiguration?"

Lily laughed. "Thanks, James."

"And you should know," James said, excitedly, as she put them in her ears, "that these diamonds are charmed to turn a brilliant red when you're in the presence of the love of your life.

"Really?" Lily said, putting a second earring on. "That's a pretty difficult bit of magic, that is!"

But James wasn't really listening. As she fixed her hair, all James could do was stare at her ears. Hurriedly, James searched his pockets for the mirror that Sirius and him talked with. When he finally found it, he held it up to Lily's face.

"Look!" Lily stared in the mirror, and noticed that behind her hair, something was glowing. She pulled back her red locks, and found her earrings shining a brilliant ruby red.

"Lily." His voice was throaty, and Lily felt woozy. "Lily."

"Yes?" Her voice was light and high-pitched.

His shoulder bumped against hers as he turned to look at her. "It's us. It's always been us." He was smiling, as if he'd known all along. _And he had_, Lily thought.

"I—I know." She wondered if she'd always known that they were meant for each other too, too. Everyone else seemed to. That's what they told her, anyway. That she and James would be perfect. They were right. She'd finally come to realize what everyone else knew all along.

He leaned in and kissed her. She shuttered, but pulled him closer.

After a minute, they broke apart, and Lily sighed. As James sat back, his shoulder brushed against hers.

"Why are our shoulders _always _bumping or brushing or _touching_?" she asked, grinning.

"Because. It's something that happens to people in love. Their shoulders always touch," James said, matter-of-factly.

"Sure."

"I swear!" James said, laughing at her disbelief. He purposely rubbed his arm against hers. "See! We're people in love! And our shoulders are touching!"

Lily rolled her eyes, but grabbed his face and kissed him anyway.


End file.
